Monthly Archives: February 2019

Learning to type with speed and accuracy is one of the most useful skills a child can learn. It increases their confidence in using a computer, whilst enabling them to concentrate on learning content rather than typing mechanics. Once learned, it’s a skill that lasts a life-time.

At Type&Test, we’re the UK’s foremost provider of online typing training and assessment tools for pupils of all ages and abilities. We offer a range of options for schools including engaging online learning, delivered through a dedicated secure portal, with up to 60 hours of varied content, pre and post assessments, tracked and measurable results, personalised completion certificates and an optional accredited qualification that is eligible for funding.

To find out more, without commitment, please complete and submit our schools enquiry form. Or give us a call on 017683 42821.

Our new online, video-based e-Learning courses will provide important CPD approved training for your staff at a time and pace to fit around their work commitments – all at a tiny fraction of the price of conventional training.

All our courses are of the highest quality, using video to illustrate and engage the learner. Content is kept up to date constantly. Each course includes a series of assessments which lead to a completion certificate, especially important where training is regulatory. And most will earn CPD points for each individual learner.

For schools we offer flexible credit schemes with massive discounts against the individual prices shown on our web site. Please click here to make a no-commitment enquiry and we’ll send you a price quotation.

Is this due to differing religious beliefs and philosophy, desire for power and land, or just pure hatred?

Our balanced talks by a Muslim and a Jew together provide new insights, useful for both GCSE and A level exams as well as PSHE, into the various conflicts, and explain differing political and historic claims, and the effect of the differences between Sunni and Shia Islam.

The Casio FX 85GT+ and the Logik LK 83XP are excellent choices for your

GCSE maths students. They both benefit from battery power with solar power back-up to provide extra reassurance for your students. Both calcs have a “natural display” function which enables students to enter expressions and data as shown in textbooks. As you would expect the build quality of both calcs is excellent and they benefit from a THREE year warranty. (excludes damage to the LCD).

The LogikLK 83XP has similar features to the CasioFX 85GT+ but without the “verify” and “recurring decimal” functions. Both calcs feature prime factorisation, random numbers, algebraic logic, multi-line replay, standard deviation, log / anti-log, hyperbolics etc and have a three year warranty and are available at short notice from Signpost Educational Ltd., The Logik LK 83XP is available from £ 5.25 each ex vat while the Casio FX 85GT+ starts from £ 7.85 each ex vat.

Is a career in graphic design your ultimate dream job? For many people it is as it invites those with an artistic flair to express themselves creatively every day in their workplace role. So, how do you determine the type of design role to go after and what’s the best route to secure a job in this sector?

There are many design roles out there… choose one that best suit you
Designers are sought after in a range of industries, from marketing agencies to illustration companies. It’s true that you could find yourself in any sector, but what roles are out there?

A role in branding
Design is a big part of branding for many companies. It helps them project their message to a target market and create a memorable brand image. Some companies have design teams in-house and others outsource to marketing and design agencies. It’s down to you to decide which environment you think you’d enjoy most. In an agency role for example, you could be working with a variety of businesses and projects all at one. As part of an in-house team, you’d work solely with that brand.

How does a branding project work? Here, you’d work closely with the company to determine target markets and talk about how the brand can be best represented visually.

A role in typography
What is a typographer? These people are trained in the design of type and lettering, another important part of creating visuals. As you’re probably aware, a logo or the typography of a company can become widely recognisable by customers — take Coca Cola for example.

This type of role appeals to people who are interested in lettering styles and getting creative with words. This is quite a niche area, therefore many designers specialise in this alongside other areas of design.

A role in editorial design
Editorial design is the process of designing magazines books and newspapers — for both online and offline publications. This type of design requires an eye for composition, layout and aesthetically pleasing typography.To succeed as an editorial designer, you should have the following qualities:
• The ability to recognise attractive content
• Understand what the reader wants to see on the page
• Be skilled in the layout of images and content

A role in illustration
A common role for illustrators is a job in animation. Or, you might find yourself in a company role who require illustrations to spread their brand message or inform their audience.

Some illustrators become specialised too in subjects such as science, technology and medicine. Here, they create imagery for text books and material to help readers understand the subject.

These jobs are only a selection of what you could be exposed to as a designer. Conduct plenty of research to find the job that you’re most interested in.

Studying and work experience
Although a lot of design roles are about your creativity, there are some things you can do in terms of work experience and studying.
The first thing to consider is a university degree, perhaps in graphic design. Each course is different, depending on the university but most of them cover the following topics:
• The influences of graphic design
• Styles of typography
• How branding and design comes together

To get accepted onto an undergraduate course like this, you’re often asked to bring a portfolio of your work. Through an Art and Design related GCSE or A-level you can start to discover your own style and use the work to create a portfolio for the future.

Gaining some work experience can come in handy too. Why not get in touch with a local design agency or local business? If you don’t mind working unpaid, it’s likely that businesses will take you up on your offer. During university, take the opportunity to do a year in industry too. You’ll hopefully learn more about the industry you’re most interested in and can gain some extra experience to add to your CV!

On Friday 22 March and Saturday 23 March, Study Options will be holding Australian University Open Days. These are free information events aimed at students (and schools) who would like to find out more about university options in Australia.

Many representatives from Australian universities will be present at the events to speak with prospective students in person. Study Options’ Open Days are held twice a year, in March and November, and are a great opportunity for students to get more information and talk to representatives from the universities face-to-face. For the majority of the universities, these are the only in-person events they undertake in the UK.

There is a lot more information available at www.studyoptionsopendays.com regarding venues, opening times and how to register. Please do let us know if you have any questions or if there is any further information we can provide.

Five years of preparation towards the all-important exams create a plethora of challenges along the way, alongside which schools are expected to prepare pupils for the real world.

Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development now forms an integral portion of the OFSTED handbook which declares that an outstanding school would have a “thoughtful and wide-ranging promotion of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.”

Thus, the question arises: Can one workshop surrounding ‘Mindfulness’ truly have an impact on pupils’ GCSE results?

Since relaxation, stillness and focus can have a direct impact on exam performance it does seem that it may be able to make a difference.

Many schools have already turned to Mindfulness practice, especially in relation to revision techniques, as well as every day school life.

Our Mindfulness workshop is coupled with practical revision and homework techniques that are born out of the same focus and stillness.

Preachy clichés are kept at bay and, before any practical exploration, pupils gain a sense of what mindfulness practice actually is and how some people choose to apply it to their lives.

Pupils leave with their own unique ‘time management profile’ and are able to implement a ‘positive thinking plan’ to go alongside their academic revision plan. Perhaps it really could have an influence on the results in that brown envelope in August?

Imagine a child going home after school and volunteering to his/her parents the story of what happened during the day (rather than waiting to be asked, and then offering the shortest of answers).

And imagine further that what the child chooses to talk about is the school assembly, with parents also bringing up the subject when they attend a parents evening, talking to you about how certain assemblies have really made an impact on their child.

Of course, you may well find this happens from time to time, with the parents spontaneously mentioning assemblies, but even if so you will know that there is a constant pressure to find more and more assemblies that grab attention and give children insights into the moral, personal and social world in which they live.

It was to provide such assemblies that my colleagues and I began to contemplate what made certain assemblies have a really strong influence on the children we teach.

We knew, of course, that we needed to create assemblies that were original, and which also met the social and emotional needs of the children who attend them and offer a focus on the values that the school wishes to present to the children.

As a result we have produced a set of over 350 assemblies with each one categorised and indexed, each of which is instantly available and fully scripted.

You can read a full example of one of our assemblies by following this link Additionally you can see the complete list of the categories and from there you can go into each category and see the details of all the assemblies on offer.

Apparently yes, it is possible, because so far over 100,000 pupils have enjoyed our workshops in their own school. Feedback from teachers has been universally positive.

What pupils develop in this workshop is a safe and secure mindset regarding the looming transition to Secondary School.

Using Drama, pupils are introduced to three characters with varying experiences on their first day of Secondary School. They learn their fears and how they overcame them, making them feel more settled and at ease.

They have the opportunity to interact with each of them, with the purpose of making them comfortable to ask any difficult questions.

Most importantly though, pupils are encouraged to think positively about their futures.

Our transition programme was put together with a consortium of educators, writers and performers ensuring that it works for pupils, educators and parents every time – and with 800+ school visits to date, we feel confident that we can verify this is the case.

Whether you’ve asked the children that question or not the chances are you can guess the most popular answers. Play time, lunch break, games, the reading of a story, art…

But does anyone say “Assembly”?

If any children do give that as an answer they are probably going to be in a minority, and yet it ought to be possible to generate more enthusiasm for assemblies since the assembly is an opportunity to do something utterly different from what happens in the rest of the day.

Indeed, there is no reason why the children should not look forward to each day’s assembly in order to find out what new and exciting event is going to happen next.

And there is of course a bonus here, because in such a scenario what we inevitably find is that one has everyone’s complete attention.

It was with this idea in mind that I began to collect ways of delivering Assemblies that did more than meet the statutory requirement. Assemblies that become as riveting as the TV programme that children ensure they get home in time to watch each day.

But of course assemblies need more than originality, for they also need to meet the social and emotional needs of the children who attend them and offer a focus on the values that the school wishes to present to the children.

As a result of this thinking we have produced a set of over 350 assemblies which are instantly available, and fully scripted. And we are still working on the project with new assemblies being added every month.

These assemblies are divided into 12 categories along with an index which allows you to choose your assembly by topic. You can read a full example of one of our assemblies by following this link

Additionally you can see the complete list of the 12 main categories and from there you can go into each category and see the details of all the assemblies on offer.

The Casio FX 85GT+ and the Logik LK 83XP are excellent choices for your GCSE maths students. They are in use in thousands of schools and colleges throughout the UK.

Both calcs have a “natural display” function which enables students to enter expressions and data as shown in textbooks. As you would expect the build quality and reliability of these calcs is excellent and they both benefit from a THREE year warranty. (excludes damage to the LCD).

The LogikLK 83XP has similar features to the CasioFX 85GT+ (but without the “verify” and “recurring decimal” functions). Both calcs feature prime factorisation, random numbers, algebraic logic, multi-line replay, standard deviation, log / anti-log, hyperbolics etc and have a THREE year warranty and are available at short notice from Signpost Educational Ltd.

The LogikLK 83XP is available from £ 5.25 each while the CasioFX 85GT+ starts from £ 7.85 each. Both are also available in class sets of 30 calcs in a Gratnells storage box with a foam insert and a clip on lid.

With many years’ of experience in delivering accredited online keyboard skills training for school pupils, we are now pleased to announce the launch of our new online, video-based e-Learning courses for your staff. These will provide key accredited training, some of which is regulatory, at a time and pace to fit around their work commitments – all at a tiny fraction of the price of conventional training.

For a full list of courses and details of their content, click on the subject headings above. You will find a preview of the first module of every course which you can view free of charge.

All our courses are of the highest quality, using video to illustrate and engage the learner. Content is kept up to date constantly. And each course includes a series of assessments which lead to a completion certificate, especially important where training is regulatory.

Please click here to make an enquiry and we’ll send you a price quotation. For schools we offer flexible credit schemes with massive discounts against the individual prices shown on our website.

“It was fantastic! So professional and carefully engineered to give the students what they need.”

There’s still time to book any one of our four great in-school shows for the current academic year. However, the diary is filling up so I recommend getting in touch with Helen, our tour administrator, ASAP.

The four productions are:

ROMEO AND JULIET MACBETH

A CHRISTMAS CAROL JEKYLL AND HYDE

To discuss your requirements, and how we can help your students through one or more of our performances, either:

Alternatively, you can call me for a chat about any aspect of Fred Theatre playing at your school on 01789 777612.

All we need to perform at your school is a space approximately 5m x 5m with room (of course) for the audience. If you have room, and feel it would be a good idea, you can also invite some parents along too, so that they can see what their sons and daughters are studying.

Our 90- or 60-minute adaptations are fresh and exciting re-tellings of the familiar and much-loved stories. Each is performed by a cast of six professional actors. We concentrate on the text and producing a faithful representation of the original—just a little shorter!

Get in touch today and let’s see if we can bring some great live theatre to your school soon.

Best wishes

Robert Ball
Artistic Director
Fred Theatre

PS: We have exciting plans for 2019-20 and I’ll be writing to you about these next month.